A Whisper's Voice
by Watching You All
Summary: We knew her as 16 year old Newblood who aided in bringing nations to their destruction. Friend and ally to the most powerful and dangerous people on in the world. But what was she before all that? Meet Alexandra Rivers, in this spin-off of "Strength, Power, Control and Letting Go." Rated M for mature content and themes.
1. Dead and Gone

**To those brave souls who can't read War Storm just yet.**

 **Song Suggestion:** **Safe & Sound feat. The Civil Wars and Taylor Swift**

I was seven when my mother was carelessly murdered in front of me. Trampled to death in the latest riot resulting from the gang violence in Harbor Bay.

They weren't very frequent, but they weren't uncommon either.

Normally we'd do our best to avoid doing downtown, but my mother wanted to surprise me with something. But we never made it to where she was leading us.

It started off as a series of pops, a few screams and then before I knew it, I was alone.

It was my birthday.

What made it even worse was we got news that my brother was taken by the war just a couple months before. He was only nineteen.

Just like my father, he was blown away, his body spread across a trench along with so many before him.

But that is a pain I never knew, my father died before I was born. My mother and brother is all I ever knew.

After my mother died, I did my best to fend for myself. My father like so many other's father built our house long ago. A small shack with a semi-stable roof. I lived there for long as I could, but I had no skill or wares to sell and zero talent for stealing. And before I turned eight, I was without a home as well.

The violence in Harbor Bay never got any better. The officers never cared. Why would they? It didn't concern them. It never bothered them. As long as they got a little bit of entertainment out of it, at the expense of so many.

But should anyone try to steal a loaf of bread, that's when they would bother. That was easy. They even got a "snack" out of it. Where as for me. That bread meant food for the next few days. But of course they didn't.

I was never a fast runner and my footwork was something to be improved upon.

I remember the pain stinging in my palms and knees as I hit the ground. I remember doing my best to stand, to move, but then a sharp pain erupts in my core as an officer kicks me aside like a pebble. I roll for what feels like a mile, but must be couple yards or so. They were taking it easy on me. I splash in the puddles from the rain from the previous night. Mud rubbing into my wounds.

I close my eyes expecting more, but nothing else comes. I hesitate to open my eyes, but when I do they're already gone. I look over to the side, the bread now sitting in one of the mud puddles. A rat already making it's way over to claim it.

My once growling stomach, now with new forming bruises, no longer sees the appeal.

A part me wants to just to continue to lie there. To sleep.

But if I do some might mistake me for dead. And so with great effort I prop myself up with an elbow and then slower to a sitting position. The journey to my feet will take a lot, and so I rest for moment up against a brick wall

That's when I see her.

She must be ten or so, with chocolate skin and bright green eyes. She walks over to me and goes to a knee.

"Are you okay?" she asks.

My hand runs across my stomach and I wince.

"It hurts," is all I can manage.

The girl nods, "It's okay, I'll help. Here, give me your hand."

She steps back and holds out her again as she pulls me to my feet, she hooks an arm around and leads me out of the ally.

"It'll be okay, I'll take care of you. I'm Riley by the way."

"Alex," I say.

She smiles.


	2. By My Side

**Song Suggestion:** **Till The Stars Fall From The Sky - Piano Cover by LONG MAN (YouTube)**

I open my eyes to sound of tapping of rain on the metal roof as well as the whisel of the wind through the small hole in a broken window.

My bones ache with every movement and I can't even find the strength to do more than tighten the thin blanket around myself. I pull my knees up to my chest for added warmth but then I wince and I blink away the tears. Another gust of wind shakes the the small shack.

I blink more as I remember what got me here. This time I can't stop the tears. Everything hurts.

I survey my surroundings. Its difficult to see in the dim light. But I'm still too weak to move. The bruises just now becoming visible, most a deep purple, but others almost black.

Three feet from where I lie a bucket collects water, drop by drop, from a a hole in the roof. Strange how something as strong as metal could have such a small round hole in the middle.

It was a long walk, back to this place. Riley explained that this used to be some kind of store house, abandoned long before she found it. Now it's serves as a home.

I huddle in the corner on dark green tarp with a blanket wrapped tightly around me. It's rough and itchy against my skin. When we finally made it here, Riley draped it around my shoulders. Then shortly after that she told me she would be right back and with that she left me alone.

That was hours ago.

Another gust of wind erupts and I find myself pulling the blanket over my head. If only to feel safer.

I wince again from the sudden pain and shed more tears and shiver in the cold.

Then I here a sudden splash and a loud bang againt the door. I can't see who or what it is. I just cover my eyes hoping it'll be painless.

Another loud bang and then there's a gentle touch on my head, slowly pulling away the itchiy fabric, revealing a beautiul sight.

"Hey," she whispers.

"You came back."

"I promised you I would."

I let go of a breath I didn't know I was holding.

"You said you would be right back."

"I'm right here."

"What took you so long?"

"It doesn't matter now, but look."

Riley slings a dark backpack off her shoulder, something I haven't noticed until now. I don't miss that she winces in doing so, but before I can ask I she unzips the bag and reveals not one but two loafs of bread and all thoughts other than my steadily watering mouth and my briused hungry stomach disappear.

"I had to get us some dinner," she says. "It took me longer than I expected, but I also had to check some traps and I got us a few squirrels and a full grown rabbit."

And instantly I regret thinking that Riley abandoned me. We're both alone out here, in a run down storage house, in the middle of the wilderness. And from the way Riley composes herself, as if this is normal. She's been alone a lot longer than I have.

Perhaps we can be alone together.


	3. Everything's Alright

**My last few Song Suggestions have been off. But I think I hit the mark on this one.**

 **Song Suggestion: When You Look Me in the Eyes by the Jonus Brothers**

 **Three Years Later.**

Laughter fills the room of the abandoned store house. Two candles illuminate the room as Riley runs her fingers through my hair, trying to comb out the knots from my recent bath in a near by stream. Now she puts it into two loose braids so it won't pull tight on my scalp when it dries. Then she takes some string she uses to make traps and ties it around the end of each braid to keep them secure.

"Are you really going this late?"

We switch places, Riley turns her back to me and I begin to fasten her hair into a single braid. Her hair has been mostly dry for about an hour now, leaving the ends mostly damp. I comb my hand through her hair as best I can, but the briad comes out pretty decent considering, if I do say so myself.

"I just need to grab some stuff for us. I won't be an hour."

"That's what you said last time," I say, making it clear in my tone that I don't like what she's doing. "You were gone for the whole day. And...," I shake my head. "Its dark outside."

"Best time to go, everyone is wrapping up their day. Everyone will be too tired and not alert enough to catch me stealing right under their noses."

"I know that but I just wish...I just wish you wouldn't."

Riley sighs. We've had this conversation many times.

"I do it for us," she says over her shoulder.

"I know that but-"

"It's the best way. And if you'd just-"

"Go with you," I deflate.

Riley turns to me. "I have always protected you. And I promise nothing will ever happen to you when your by my side. Just come with me."

I look down at my hands, fingers long and nimble. Ashamed.

"I told you I never wanted to go back there again," I mumble.

"Hey," Riley leans over and takes my cold hands in her warm ones. They're rough and covered in calluses, but comforting all the same. "I will never make you do something you don't want to do."

"I know, its just...so much has happened there. I've lost so much to that place."

"That place is your home."

"No its not, Riley. My home is here," my eyes graze over the room. Rust on the metal walls and dirt on the floor. A pot for boiling water in the corner and a metal bucket-the same one I woke up to catching rain water, sits in the opposite corner. In the winter we open the the broken windows and light a fire in side the bucket to keep the store house warm. I look into her bright green eyes, the color of spring. "My _home_ is with you."

The corner of her lips lift into a genuine smile. It makes me feel better. It always does.

"Go," I say, even though it pains me in so many ways for so many reasons. "Just promise me you'll comes back to me."

Riley suddnly pulls me to her and I quickly wrap my arms around her slight fragile form. She may be only fourteen, but she is the strongest person in the world.

"I always will."


End file.
